Buenos Aires, Argentina (CNN)The Argentine Chamber of Deputies voted Thursday morning to legalize elective abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.
The bill now goes to the more conservative Senate for consideration. President Mauricio Macri has said he won't veto the bill if Congress approves it, even though he opposes abortion.

"We have been able to settle our differences with respect, tolerance and listening to each other; understanding that dialogue is the road that will strengthen our future," Macri said. "My congratulations to everyone, knowing that this debate now continues in the Senate."

Lower house votes 129-123 to allow abortion in first 14 weeks
If senate approves bill President Macri has said he will sign it

Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Thu 14 Jun 2018

The lower house of Argentina’s congress has narrowly approved a bill that would legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, in a historic victory for the country’s growing women’s movement.

Tens of thousands of women – many wearing the green headscarfs which have become a symbol of the movement – braved a freezing winter night to stand vigil outside the congress building in Buenos Aires during the marathon 20-hour debate.

‘My body, my choice’: Argentina moves closer to legal abortion with key vote
The chamber of deputies is voting on a crucial bill that would legalise abortion in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy

Elizabeth Sulis Kim
Wed 13 Jun 2018

Even as calls for women in Argentina to be given the legal right to abortion have grown louder on its cities’ streets, a change in the law had seemed unlikely – until now.

But a vote on abortion on Wednesday could transform Pope Francis’s homeland from a country where women can go to jail for having an unlawful termination to one of Latin America’s most progressive countries on reproductive rights.

Argentina’s historic vote to decriminalize abortion, explained
Argentina’s Congress has taken up a bill to decriminalize abortion. It probably won’t pass, but activists say it’s a victory regardless.

By Emily Stewart
Jun 13, 2018

Across Latin America, 97 percent of women live in countries with restrictive abortion laws. Argentina’s lower legislative house is debating whether to change that and pass a bill that would decriminalize abortion in the country up to the first 14 weeks of pregnancy.

The vote is expected to be close, and even if it does pass, it’s unlikely to get through the Argentine Senate. Still, activists see the fact that the issue is being voted on at all as a major step for women’s rights in the country and throughout the region.

Latin America’s draconian abortion policies have resulted in the needless deaths of thousands of women, said Amnesty International’s secretary general, Salil Shetty, as he called for a decisive push for legalization of the procedure across the region.

“The criminalization of abortion is an extreme form of violence against women. It doesn’t reduce abortions – it just makes them unsafe,” Shetty told the Guardian in Buenos Aires after a meeting with Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri.

BUENOS AIRES — Lucía Bulat, a 19-year-old medical student, was dancing on the steps of the congressional palace in Buenos Aires as she looked out on a crowd of abortion rights demonstrators who had gathered in Argentina’s capital.

“It’s a beautiful day,” Ms. Bulat said on Tuesday. “We’re empowering ourselves and demanding our rights. We can’t let people keep telling us what we can and cannot do with our own bodies.”

'Women in Argentina live in hell': calls for legal abortion grow
A groundswell of support for Argentinian women to be allowed terminations in the early weeks of pregnancy could soon culminate in a change to the law

Uki Goñi in Buenos Aires
Wed 14 Mar 2018

“When I tell people abroad that abortions are still illegal in Argentina, they say, ‘You must live in hell,’” says comedian Malena Pichot. “And yes, women in Argentina live in hell.”

The country has very restrictive abortion laws. Even when it is deemed lawful – in the case of rape, or when a woman’s life is in danger – doctors are often unwilling to proceed for fear of prosecution.

ARGENTINA – Macri gives a green light to open the debate on abortion law reform

by International Campaign for Women's Right to Safe Abortion
Feb 23, 2018

In 2016, 46 women died from unsafe, illegal abortions in Argentina. All of them could have been avoided. Mauricio Macri, President of Argentina, is against abortion, but all around him there is a very strong movement and a new generation that are pushing for Argentina to become a leader in the region on abortion law reform, as they were with gay marriage. The abortion rights movement in Argentina seeks to go well beyond Chile and calls for a law that allows abortion on request in the first 14 weeks.

In the Congress, where resistance to change and the pressures of the Catholic church still have weight, the pressure is growing every day. Last weekend it exploded in a cheerful and organised manner in front of the Congress building and on social media with the slogan #AbortoLegalYa (Legal abortion already!) that gained the support of many famous politicians and journalists, a senior judge, a TV star and some important members of the Government.